PSY 320 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES IN EDUCATION

LECTURE 1

1.1 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Education

 Education is the harmonious development of the mental, physical, emotional, social and
spiritual faculties of the learners for a better service in the society. Effective education
requires that a process or a system be provided where all the faculties are developed
harmoniously. As the learner advances, he / she ends up acquiring particular knowledge
or skills as for a profession.
 Education can also be seen as a process of acquiring and developing knowledge,
attitudes, values and skills through growth, maturation, learning and experience for the
benefit of the individual and society.

Population

 A population is the set of individuals, groups, objects or events that the researcher is
studying

Sample

 A sample is a relatively small subset of people, objects, groups or events, that is selected
from the population. The findings from a sample are then used for generalizations to the
larger population

Sampling

 This is the process of selecting a number of individuals for a study in such a way that the
individuals selected represent the larger group from which they are drawn (population)

Subject

 Is a person or thing that undergoes experiment, analysis, treatment, etc

Variable

 Variable is a measurable characteristics that assumes different values among subjects

 It is therefore a logical way of expressing a particular attribute in a subject
 Some variables are expressed quantitatively (e.g. age, height) while others are expressed
qualitatively

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 Parameter

 This a characteristic that is measurable and can assume different values in a population

The differences between a variable and a parameter is that a parameter refers to a population
characteristic while a variable refers to sample characteristics

Statistics
 Is a scientific method of collecting, organizing, summarizing, presenting and analyzing
data.
 It is a set of methods and rules for organizing, summarizing and interpreting information
 The term statistics is also used to refer to indices which are derived from data through statistical
procedures.
 Examples of such indices include; Means, standard deviation, correlation coefficient.

Data
 Data refers to all the information a researcher gathers for his or her study e.g. scores. They can be
quantitative (numerical) or qualitative (words and phrases) in nature.

There are two types of data;

i) Primary data. This is the information that a researcher gathers directly from the field i.e. from
the subjects in the sample.
ii) Secondary data. This refers to the information a researcher obtains from research articles,
books

 Data can be the scores.

Sampling Error
 This refers to the discrepancy or amount of error, that exists between a sample statistics
and the corresponding population parameter

1.2 Quantitative Sills in Education

Introduction

 Quantitative techniques use numbers to help evaluate your initiatives

 Quantitative refers to descriptions having to do with numbers and statistics, while
Qualitative refers to descriptions having to do with quality or worth of something.
 Quantitative distinctions talk about / describes proportions, amounts or measurements
such as 20 books, 3 jugs, full cup, etc.
 Qualitative refers to descriptions having to do with status or grades using words and
comparisons such as good, bad, excellent, outstanding, etc

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Why Quantitative Technique to a teacher?

1. Enables a teacher to quantify the performance of learners

2. To be able to carry out effective measurement and evaluation
3. To be able to make comparisons
4. Mae the teacher to be more precise
5. Enable the teacher to make and interpret statistical information which is part of teaching
and learning
6. Quantitative techniques are tools of communication to the parents, administration and
even learners themselves about their performance
7. Quantitative techniques are used in analyzing trends in education. Knowledge of QT
enable the teacher in understanding the same.
8. Enables the teacher to evaluate quantitative studies on education and to engage in
intellectually on such debates.
9. QT improves a teacher’s quality of presentation and time spent on verbal explanations
10. Enables teachers to carry out research on education so as to solve educational problems
11. Statistical literacy is invaluable as a life skill in the sensible interpretation of quantitative
information. Many of the instructions, information are given in quantitative form e.g.
dosage of medicines, recipe, etc.
12. Enable teachers to develop reliable and valid assessment tools

1.3 Types of Statistics

There are 2 main areas of statistics:

1) Descriptive statistics
2) Inferential statistics

1. Descriptive Statistics
- Involves tabulating, depicting and describing a collection of data under consideration.

- A set of brief descriptive coefficients that summarizes a given data set, which can either be a
representation of the entire population or a sample.
- Descriptive statistics are techniques that take raw scores and summarize them in a form that is
more manageable
- The measures used to describe the data set are measures of central tendency and measures of
variability or dispersion.
- Measures of central tendency include the mean, median and mode, while measures of variability
include the standard deviation (or variance), the minimum and maximum variables, kurtosis and
skewness.
- Descriptive statistics aim to summarize a sample, rather than use the data to learn about the
population that the sample of data is thought to represent.
- Descriptive statistics includes statistical procedures that we use to describe the population we are
studying.
- The data could be collected from either a sample or a population, but the results help us organize
and describe data.

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 - Descriptive statistics can only be used to describe the group that is being studying. That is, the
results cannot be generalized to any larger group.
- Descriptive statistics are useful and serviceable if you do not need to extend your results to any
larger group. However, much of social sciences tend to include studies that give us “universal”
truths about segments of the population, such as all parents, all women, all victims, etc.
- The data may either be qualitative or quantitative.
- Quantitative data is that which can be assigned numerals e.g. it can be measured e.g. age,
weight, height.
- Qualitative data are data that cannot be measured e.g. IQ, personality, morality.
- Descriptive statistics serves as a trial to reduce data into manageable forms.

There are 3 common types of descriptive statistics.

a) Measures of central tendency
b) Measures of variability / spread/ dispersion.
c) Measures of relationships
-Descriptive Statistics involves using the entire population under study.

2. Inferential Statistics
 Inferential statistics consists of techniques that allow us to study samples and then
make generalizations about the populations from which they were selected
 They are used to infer or predict population parameters from sample measurements.
 Common types of inferential statistics
1) T – tests
2) F – ration
3) Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
4) Analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA)
5) Regression e.g linear or multiple regressions.

1.4 Variables
-Is a particular trait which can take a range of values in a population or a sample e.g scores,
I.Q.
-There are 2 different kinds of variables
a) Discrete variables
b) Continuous variables

a) Discrete Variables
 These are variables that can take own values that are specific distinct points on a
scale e.g. number of people.
 A discrete variable is typically restricted to whole countable numbers
 A discrete variable consists of separate, indivisible categories
 No values can exist between two neighboring categories
 A discrete variable may also consist of observations that differ qualitatively. For
example, a psychologist observing patients may classify some as having panic
disorders, dissociative disorders and some as psychotic disorders. The type of
disorder is a discrete variable because there are distinct and finite categories that can
be observed.

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 b) Continuous variables
 Can take on any value between 2 points on a scale period.
 A continuous variable, are infinite number of possible values that fall between any two
observed values
 A continuous variable is divisible into an infinite number of fractional parts
 These values can be measured with different degree of exactness depending on the
measuring instrument e.g. height, weight, Age.
 Data from continuous variable is referred to as continuous data while that from discrete
variable is referred to as discrete data.
 The data here can be measured.
 To measure this continuous variables we use measuring scales and there are 4 major
types.
(1) Nominal scale
(2) Ordinal scale
(3) Ratio scale
(4) Interval scale

Sample Questions
1. Giving relevant examples in each case, explain the following terms:
a. population and sample (4 Marks)
b. Interval scale and Ratio scale (4 Marks)
2. The relationship between a population and a parameter is the same as the relationship
between a sample and a………………..(1 Mark)
3. Define the term sampling error (2 Marks)
4. A researcher studies the factors that determine how many children couples decides to
have. The variable, number of children, is a-----------------------------(discrete /
continuous) variable (1 Mark)
5. Giving relevant examples in each case, explain the difference between continuous data
and discrete data (4 Marks)